Securing China’s Interest Abroad: Global Infrastructure and Domestic Politics

• In Event: The State and Its Infrastructure Fantasies: Domestic and International

Abstract

Much research examines how transportation infrastructure built, operated, and owned by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) abroad has facilitated the internationalization of China’s economic and political interests. Increasingly, however, Chinese global infrastructure also supports state efforts to protect those interests in times of conflict or crisis. What role do Chinese SOEs and overseas infrastructure play in protecting Chinese citizens and assets abroad? This paper examines China’s evolving efforts to use global infrastructure to achieve security goals through the empirical lens of non-combatant evacuation operations (NEOs). Using NEO case studies, we analyze the disparate interests, activities, and interactions of Chinese SOEs, the People’s Liberation Army, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other domestic actors. This paper advances existing research by highlighting the domestic politics that shape efforts by states like China to use global infrastructure to protect interests abroad.

Authors

• Wendy Leutert, Indiana University

• Isaac B. Kardon, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace